Transactions fell 29% in first 6 months of '90

COMMERCIAL REALTY NOTES

October 24, 1990|By Edward Gunts

The dollar volume of recorded commercial real estate transactions in the Baltimore area during the first half of 1990 was $721 million, a 29 percent drop from the volume in the first half of 1989, according to a report from Rufus S. Lusk & Son Inc.

The number of commercial transactions during the first half of this year was 2,905, also a 29 percent decline from the 4,112 sales during the comparable period of 1989, according to Lusk.

The dollar volume of Baltimore-area land sales was $175 million, a 57 percent decline from the $408 million in sales in the first half of 1990, Lusk said.

"The overall commercial real estate market is going through a major adjustment period after five years of heady growth, from being capital-driven to being needs-driven," said company President Rufus S. Lusk III. "Investors' fears of two or three years ago are now a reality. We are suffering from a period of overbuilding. We have probably not yet reached bottom, but I expect we will do so within the next 9 to 12 months."

According to the Lusk report, the four highest-priced sales in the first half of 1990 were:

* The former Radisson Annapolis Hotel at 126 West St., sold by HA Associates Limited Partnership for $12,906,400 to Loews Annapolis Hotel Corp., which has since renamed it the Loews Annapolis Hotel.

* The Annapolis Holiday Inn at 210 Holiday Court, sold for $11.3 million by the Simpson Land Co. to Riva Ridge Limited Partnership.

* Marshfield Business Park, 82.8 acres at 6100 Rossville Blvd. in Baltimore County, sold for $9,026,602 by Mount Clare Properties to Verbal Corp.

* A 76.2-acre parcel at 1212 Winterson Road in Linthicum Heights, sold for $8,257,500 by Westinghouse Electric Corp. to West Terra Limited Partnership.